


A Bigger Fish

by Karalora



Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Bleeding, Death Threats, Exhaustion, Familial Affection, Gen, Injury, Mer AU, Violence, cliffhanger ending, mild body horror, near-unconsciousness, threatened violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-26
Updated: 2019-04-06
Packaged: 2019-12-18 04:35:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,381
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18242492
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Karalora/pseuds/Karalora
Summary: While exploring an unfamiliar area, the mer-family gets into a spot of trouble with the local apex predator...





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Mer AU](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/467285) by RandomSlasher. 



> This is based on the inestimable RandomSlasher's Mer AU, currently being developed on Tumblr. Thanks for letting me borrow your stuff, LJ!

“I _detest_ this,” Roman complained, coughing slightly. “It is most distasteful to mine eyes and to my gills!”

“We should be out of it soon,” Logan assured the young betta, ruffling his hair fondly. “Then we just have to wait for the silt to settle, and we can head back home.”

The small family had been taking a day outing beyond the territory of the mer-community when their path was crossed by a pod of humpback whales on the hunt. The massive creatures were no threat to mers, but their huge tails, and the clouds of bubbles they blew in order to herd fish, had stirred up a miasma of silt from the seafloor, leaving the family with almost no visibility and irritated breathing. There was nothing for it but to find the edge of the cloud and then wait for it to disperse.

“How are you holding up, Virge?” Patton asked his outsized adopted son.

**Good enough** , Virgil gestured. It wasn't quite true—he periodically scratched at his own gill slits, and he had closed his eyes against the stinging silt, navigating for the time being by sound and touch.

“The light seems to be improving,” Logan remarked. “I think we're almost to the edge.”

A few more fin-flicks brought them into clear water. Roman half-sighed, half-sang with relief, swimming in tight circles around Patton and Logan.

From this location they could see just how big the silt cloud was—it stretched to the left and right as far as they could see, and filled the entire water column from sand to surface. “Those whales are rambunctious fellas, aren't they?” Patton said.

“It may take some time for this to clear,” said Logan. “We might as well explore the area in the meantime. I've been meaning to make a study of the far reaches of our territory.”

“An adventure!” Roman cried with delight, flaring his fins. “Perhaps we shall find a great surface-husk, filled with glitter-stones and bits of sunshine from the world above!”

“Perhaps we shall...but do not count on it,” said Logan. “Such things are quite rare, if they truly exist at all.”

They set out over the seabed. There wasn't much, at least at first—clumps of sea-grass, crags of long-inert coral growth, and common stones as well. One protrusion of rock had formed a column stretching nearly to the surface, with all manner of algae and mussels and anemones encrusting its surface. Virgil barely touched one of his huge fingertips to the anemones, smiling faintly at the way they pulled in all their tentacles in response.

“ _You are lucky to be...large,_ Virgil,” Logan said in Eelish, stumbling slightly over the alien sounds. “ _Those would...hurt...us three. Sting._ ”

“ _Yes,_ ” Virgil agreed. “ _When I was little, I got a bad sting from them once. But it's all right now. It tickles._ ”

“What are they saying?” Roman whispered loudly to Patton.

“Uhhhh...Logan told Virgil that anemones sting, and Virgil agreed with him? I didn't catch all the words, kiddo.”

“Behold! Yonder is another of these stone columns!” Roman announced, pointing into the middle distance.

“There must have been a heat vent here at one point,” said Logan. “No one knows how, but heat vents can create columns like these. They send out...something, and it turns all the water it touches into scalding hot bubbles, and then there is new stone. I would be very interested to investigate.” He flexed his tentacles, heading for the second column. The other two mers followed, but Virgil stayed beyond, content to poke at the anemones.

“Virge? Aren't you coming, kiddo?” Patton called back.

“Soon, Patton!” Virgil replied, pronouncing the simple Mer words as best he could.

“His Mer is coming along nicely,” Logan remarked.

“He does his best,” said Patton. “It's hard for him, with those teeth.”

“I for one have ne'er seen an eel's teeth,” said Roman. “And I hope no such fate e'er befalls—what's this?”

They had reached a drop-off in the seafloor. The column they were approaching was past it, reaching down an unknown depth into the dim water.

“How deep do you think it is here?” wondered Patton.

“It cannot hurt to explore a little,” said Logan. “Mind the pressure and temperature as we go and we should be all right.”

“Virge! We're gonna dive a little! We'll be right next to this other column when you want to find us!”

Virgil looked up, making a sweeping gesture of understanding-agreement, and they began their descent.

The second stone column appeared much like the first—hung with a variety of small living things, which twitched and shied at their approach. After they had gone down perhaps ten body lengths, there came a sudden hissing sound. It seemed to emanate from the water all around them.

“Could the vent still be active somewhere?” Logan wondered, looking around for signs of such a thing.

“In water as beastly cold as this? A faint chance indeed,” said Roman.

“If you're feeling too cold, you should head back up,” Patton said, frowning slightly with concern.

The currents briefly shifted around them, causing the three mers to flinch, startled. “Perhaps we should all head back now,” Logan suggested. “This location feels more unfriendly by the moment.”

“I kinda wish Virgil had come with us,” Patton said, wrapping his arms around his small body.

The hissing sound returned, accompanied by a new sight, further along the cliff face: a large creature whose eyes shone dimly in the faint light. A long, powerful tail flexed at its rear.

“Oh, there's Virge!” Patton beamed. He unwrapped one arm and waved. “Virge! We're over here!”

Logan gripped his waving arm suddenly, pinching in fright. “That's not Virgil!”

Indeed it was not—it was a larger eel, her coloration grayer, with greenish banding. She narrowed her eyes at them, lips parted to reveal a sliver of a sharp-toothed grimace.

Gathering his courage, Logan swam toward her a short distance. “ _Please!_ ” he called. “ _Not hostile!_ _Regret...ignorant! We...go right away!_ ” He could _feel_ his grasp of the language slip away due to his alarm. If the eel understood his clumsy communication, she gave no sign of it. She put on speed.

Patton squealed with terror, and Logan abandoned his attempts to communicate with the big predator. He returned to the other two and clasped them close, curling his tentacles around them like a sort of cage. Eels were known to use a tail-slap as their first attack, and he hoped his rubbery flesh would cushion them.

But the blow never came. The eel was only a few lengths away when Virgil was suddenly  _there_ , looping his tail around all three of them protectively, almost  _possessively_ . He didn't speak to them, but locked eyes with the other eel, snarling. Logan barely understood what followed, Virgil's pronunciation was so deep and guttural:

“ _No! Back off! MINE!_ ”

The other eel pulled up short, hissing. Virgil hissed back...and then there was a muffled  _click_ as he disarticulated his jaw to display a true carnivore's gape, teeth fully extended like a double row of sea urchin spines. Every fin and spine on his body was splayed or erected to its greatest extent, and his eyes flashed.

He hissed again, and this time the hiss was backed by a low but powerful warbling sound that made the water quiver for many body-lengths around him.

The other eel returned the gesture, and her dorsal spines were not only longer, but flushed scarlet, while a bright white border stood out around her body stripes. She charged.

Virgil whipped his tail straight back behind himself and met the charge, hands ready to rake at his opponent.

All because of a cloud of silt...

 


	2. A Better Fish

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A follow-up, since enough people asked for one.

 

Virgil was as surprised as anyone when he landed the first blow.

The other eel was noticeably bigger than him, which meant her reach was longer, and more importantly, she was _older—_ more experienced. But, as he discovered, he was just a bit faster. As they moved within striking range, she aimed a claw swipe at his face, and he deftly ducked under it and brought his own claws into play along her ribcage. She shrieked with pain, and his victory was short-lived as she wheeled about and retaliated with a slash along his back.

Then it was on.

The two eels tore at each other, taloned hands lacerating whatever flesh they could find. Virgil took many blows, but he barely felt the pain under the far more powerful sensation of battle-fury, He was so _angry_ , and the anger felt so _good_ , and a distant part of him was dimly horrified by that, but in the moment there was nothing but the enemy and himself and the fight. His jaw was still unhinged, and so was hers—for show rather than use, at least for now.

Agony suddenly erupted in Virgil's tail where the other eel had delivered a deep gouge. He recoiled, losing his rhythm, and she seized her opportunity, coiling her own tail around his torso, pinning his arms. She began to squeeze.

“ _I don't know what you think you're playing at, elver,_ ” she rasped. She had re-articulated her jaw in order to speak. “ _Protecting mers? How preposterous and pointless. But it doesn't matter. I'm going to crush you, and then I'm going to tear them limb from limb. If they flee, I'll hunt them down. I have their scent._ ”

Virgil felt his ribs creak under the pressure. His vision was turning white...but at her final words, it turned _red_. He opened his mouth as wide as it would go, craned his neck, and sank his teeth into her coiled tail.

Either he had thoroughly surprised her or he had struck a sensitive spot—she shrieked, and her grip loosened. Virgil worked one arm free and lashed out at whatever he could reach. For his effort, he was rewarded with a second shriek, even louder and more piercing than the first, and he was suddenly free. He got his bearings, spun about to locate his foe, and spotted her... _swimming away_. She was wailing and clutching at her face, leaving a blood trail as she went. Soon she was lost to sight in the depths of the trench.

Virgil had won.

He had _won_.

He arched his back, spread his arms and his fins, and bellowed his triumph.

The weariness hit him then. He had won...and it had taken everything in him to do so. The rage dissipated, leaving only a shell of...nothing. He was too tired to feel, and his wounds throbbed. He just wanted to _rest_...but...where? The side of the trench was studded with ledges and hollows, but he didn't think he could make it to any of them.

He reversed his pose, curling in on himself.

He started to sink.

 

* * *

 

“Oh...oh my. He did it,” said Logan, gingerly unwrapping his tentacles from the other two. “He defeated her!”

“My kiddo's a hero!” Patton whispered, awestruck...but he suddenly darted out a few body-lengths, horrorstruck. “He's hurt! He's _bleeding_! Hang on, Virgil, I'm coming!”

All three of them swam up to meet him, but he barely acknowledged their presence. His eyes were rolling and fluttering a little. “He looks like he might faint,” said Logan.

“Buoy him up!” said Roman. “If he swoons here, we shall lose him to the depths!”

“Not on my watch!” Patton declared. He hovered before Virgil's face, patting his cheeks. “Virge? It's your dad. Come on, you've got to move. You need a safe place. We'll help you.”

It took some effort and plenty of guidance, but they managed to get Virgil swimming again. It was terribly slow going, and with every stroke of his tail, another puff of red seeped into the surrounding water. His entire body was hatched and cross-hatched with parallel sets of scratches from the other eel's claws.

Eventually, they made it to a ledge large enough for them to stretch out on. Logan busied himself examining Virgil's many wounds, while Roman took up a post behind him, crooning gently.

“You're safe now, love,” said Patton. “You're safe. We've got you...”

That was the last Virgil heard clearly before letting himself drift into semi-consciousness. For some length of time, he was vaguely aware of soothing voices and soft touches, the comforting _presence_ of his family. The next clearly defined sensation was a fiery pain slicing across his tail. Virgil sat bolt upright, crying out.

“I'm sorry!” Logan exclaimed. “I'm so sorry, Virgil, I was...” He trailed off, clearing his throat, and switched to Eel. “ _Regret. I am putting...kelp—purple! I am putting purple kelp on your tail. I must make it tight to stop the blood._ ”

“You're gonna be okay, Virge,” said Patton, cupping Virgil's face once more. “We're gonna take good care of you.”

“ _I know_ ,” Virgil replied. He was alert again, partly refreshed after his bout of not-exactly-unconsciousness, but he didn't quite feel like mustering the effort to speak Mer at the moment.

The tone of Roman's song shifted, from the lilting, almost lullaby-like melody it had been to something a little more lively. At the same time, he moved to the vicinity of Virgil's shoulders, lightly massaging them (and assiduously avoiding the scratches there). The vibrations of his song filtered through Virgil's skin and into his overworked muscles, driving out the tension and re-infusing some of their spent strength.

“I wish I had some of my numbing clay,” Logan mused, cinching another layer of kelp fronds onto Virgil's tail. “But I think I've wrapped this tightly enough to keep his swimming movements from aggravating the cuts.”

“You were _so brave_ out there, Virge,” Patton continued. “I'm super-proud of you. As soon as you're up to it, we're gonna head home. That silt cloud must have cleared by now. I love you so much.”

 _Love_ ... The eels' language had no ready equivalent. There were vaguely related words— _need_ , _desire_ , _protect—_ but creatures as solitary and predatory as the eels had no use for a word denoting all-encompassing tenderness.

It was one of the few words in Mer that Virgil had practiced until he could pronounce it _perfectly_.

“I love you too,” he said. “I love you all.”

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Note: “Numbing clay” is a fine, sticky clay with the anesthetic venom of a parasitic worm mixed in. I figure underwater people have to mix most of their topical medicines with clay in order to get them in a form that won't wash away as soon as it leaves the container.


End file.
